A mobile satellite antenna is particularly suited for high bandwidth communication between a remote location and a satellite. For example, commercial users such as those found in the oil and gas industry can advantageously deploy a mobile satellite antenna where use locations are far apart. Additionally, some users of mobile satellite antennas require high speed deployment of the satellite antenna such as, for example, users in the law enforcement community with tactical communications vehicles. Military and homeland security units also desire a mobile satellite antenna that is configured as a high bandwidth uplink/downlink mobile satellite antenna system that can be quickly disassembled, stowed, and transported to another location.
There have been a number of satellite antenna systems that have been commercially offered and which have had antenna dishes and other components that folded down when not in operation. For example, some such satellite antenna systems have been offered that included gear boxes to elevate the dish through a rotary drive motion or included a linear actuator attached to the back of the satellite dish to raise the dish. In addition, configurations for satellite antenna systems deploying such dish raising and lowering mechanisms can be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,337,062 and 5,418,542.
Several satellite antenna systems have being provided with a mobility capability in that these satellite antenna systems can be stowed or packaged in a number of transit cases (often three or more transit cases per system). These systems are generally used for a variety of different types of communications scenarios, meaning that in some cases excess equipment is transported in the missions. The transfer or transport of a number of cases raises the likelihood of equipment getting lost or misplaced and these systems tend to be less robust in the sense that damaged or broken parts occur that tend to degrade performance. In addition, assembly and disassembly of the system in the field can be time consuming when, often, time is of the essence. Also, users of these systems must ensure that the vehicle or place of usage is equipped with a certain type of power source as these systems are typically configured to be powered by a pre-selected power source.
Thus, there continues to be a need to improve the versatility of mobile satellite antenna systems and to lessen the chances for incompatible power input situations. Additionally, there continues to be a need for a mobile satellite antenna system that lessens the chances for incompatible power input situations and that is readily deployable from a stowed position to a usable deployed position as quickly as possible and that is configured to be quickly disassembled, stowed and transported to another location.